CHANGE MANAGEMENT & UNDERSTANDING AND DEVELOPING
YOUR STAFF FOR SUCCESS
Cath Bufton-Green
“The cost of stability is often
diminished opportunity for growth.”Sheryl Sandberg
About me➢ Over 20 years in education
➢ Teacher, Middle Leader, Senior Leader (5 years),
Head in three Prep schools (11 years)
➢ Independent and state schools
➢ Set up CEBG Consulting in September 2017
➢ Supporting school leaders, staff development,
recruitment
➢ Independent Schools Portal – high quality, affordable
CPD for Heads and Senior Leaders (www.independentschoolsportal.org)
➢ Head’s recruitment with Headspace Academics (www.headspaceacademics.com)
➢ Wife, mother, musician and sportswomanContact
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.cebgconsulting.co.uk
”Change is the only constant.”Heraclitus (circa 500BC)
WHAT HAVE BEEN SOME OF THE MORE SIGNIFICANT CHANGES IN YOUR SCHOOL?
WHAT WAS THE REASON FOR THE CHANGE?
Make a note of a change in your school that needs to
happen/has just begun.
JOHN KOTTER’S
8 STEP PROCESS
FOR LEADING CHANGE
• Needs whole team or school to
really want the change
• Instigate an open, honest and
convincing dialogue
• Identify potential problems if the
change doesn’t happen
• Build a ‘change team’ (include
one or two key influencers)
• Small group of advocates
• Develop the plans
3. Create a vision for change
2. Form a powerful coalition1. Create urgency
• Link to an overall vision that people
can grasp and easily remember
• Helps everyone understand ‘why’
• Consult on the vision, if appropriate
Creating the climate for change Engaging and enabling the organisation
4. Communicate the vision
• To get ‘buy-in’
• Communicate it frequently and
powerfully
• Embed into everything you do
• Keep telling the story
• Involve parents and pupils to
build more buy-in
• Walk the talk
5. Empower action
• Identify and put in place the
structure for change
• Continually check barriers to it
• Remove obstacles to empower
others
• Create and delegate to mini-
teams/sub-teams
6. Create quick wins
• Nothing motivates more than success
• Need to ‘feel the benefit’ fast
7. Build on the change
8. Make it stick• Don’t let up!
• Tackle ‘laggards’
• It needs to become part of your culture
• Consistently applied
• Values behind the vision must be shown
in day-to-day work
• Systems for monitoring
• Key milestones as part of team or
school development plan
Implementing and sustaining for change
WHAT TO DO AND WHAT TO
AVOID
CREATE URGENCY
Actions needed Pitfalls
Examine your current
position for potential
crises and untapped
opportunities.
Convince at least
75% of your
managers that the
status quo is more
dangerous than the
unknown.
Underestimating
the difficulty of
driving people
from their comfort
zones.
Becoming
paralysed with
risks.
FORM A POWERFUL
GUIDING COALITION
Actions needed Pitfalls
Assemble a group
with shared
commitment and
enough power to
lead the change
effort.
Encourage them to
work as a team
outside the normal
hierarchy.
No prior experience
in teamwork at the
top.
Relegating team
leadership to
someone other than
a middle/senior
leader.
CREATE A VISION
Actions needed Pitfalls
Create a vision to
direct the change
effort.
Develop strategies
for realising that
vision.
Presenting a vision
that is too
complicated, or
vague, to be
communicated in
five minutes.
COMMUNICATE THE VISION
Actions needed Pitfalls
Use every vehicle
possible to
communicate the
new vision and
strategies for
achieving it.
Teach new
behaviours by the
example of the
guiding coalition.
Under-communicating
the vision.
Behaving in ways not
consistent with the
vision.
EMPOWER OTHERS TO
ACT ON THE VISION
Actions needed Pitfalls
Remove and alter
systems or structures
undermining the
vision.
Encourage risk-taking
and non-traditional
ideas, activities and
actions.
Failing to remove
powerful individuals
who resist the
change effort.
PLAN FOR AND
CREATE SHORT
TERM WINS
Actions needed Pitfalls
Define and engineer
visible performance
improvements.
Recognise and
reward employees
contributing to those
improvements.
Leaving short-term
successes up to
chance.
Failing to score
successes early
enough.
CONSOLIDATE IMPROVEMENTS AND PRODUCE MORE CHANGE
Actions needed Pitfalls
Use increased credibility
from early wins to change
systems and structures, and
policies that undermine the
vision.
Hire, promote and develop
staff who can implement the
vision.
Reinvigorate the change
process with new projects
and change agents.
Declaring victory
too soon – with
the first
performance
improvement.INSTITUTIONALISE
NEW APPROACHES
Actions needed Pitfalls
Articulate
connections between
new behaviours and
success.
Create leadership
development and
succession plans
consistent with the
new approach.
Not creating new
social norms and
shared values
consistent with
changes.
Promoting people
into leadership
positions who don't
personify the new
approach.
THE IMPORTANCE OF A CLEAR VISION
Who’s vision is this?“To bring inspiration and innovation to every
athlete in the world.”
“To enrich people’s lives with programmes
and services that inform, educate and
entertain.”"Our vision is to be earth's most
customer-centric company; to build a
place where people can come to find
and discover anything they might
want to buy online."
“Our vision is to create a better
every-day life for many people.”
“To give people the power to
share and make the world more
open and connected.”
“To organise the world‘s
information and make it
universally accessible and
useful.”
However…. “What problem are we actually
trying to solve here?”
• Be bold
• Keep it simple
• Start with ‘Why?’
START WITH WHY?
The why inspires us. It’s our purpose, cause or belief.
• What do you want?
• What will that outcome give you?
• Why is that important to you?
“People don’t buy WHAT you do; they buy WHY you do
it.”Simon Sinek
Top-down structure
‘Why’
▪ the leader
‘How’
▪ the staff who are inspired
by the leader’s vision
‘Whats’
▪ the things we say and do
that breathes life into the
why
▪ the outcomes
▪ the proof of the Why.
Remember to ask:
✓ Is the new vision compelling enough
to inspire action from current staff,
parents and pupils?
If you can’t articulate a clear purpose
behind the changes being made, its
unlikely your staff will be able to
implement them.
THEN ASK HOW AND WHAT?
Skills
✓ What skills need to be
strengthened with staff to bring
about change?
✓ Do the staff need training?
✓ What level of follow-up
meetings/support is required and
from whom?
Incentives
✓ What incentives and measurements
need to be in place to achieve each
goal?
✓ How will you motivate staff?
✓ How will you approach feedback,
concerns and ideas?
✓ How will you reward staff for
participating in the changes?
Resources
✓ What resources are missing?
✓ How can additional resources be
raised, or earned sustainably?
✓ Have you fully considered what
resources will be required?
Action Plans
✓ Does the strategic plan give you
a clear road map for the next 3-5
years?
✓ Will you be able to follow the
action plan without getting
distracted?
Which aspect do you think is most important for successful change management?
VISION
SKILLS
RESOURCES
INCENTIVES
ACTION PLANS
Empowering/Enabling Action
Dr Mary Lippitt (1987)
Think about a change initiative that didn’t work.
Which aspect would you assess as having been
‘missed’ in the journey?
Discuss
Being able to analyse and evaluate a previous
failure will help to ensure clarity and success
going forward.
MANAGING THE EFFECT OF CHANGE ON
OTHERS
The Change Curve – Kübler-Ross
“It's not what happens to you, but how you react to it that
matters.”
Typical responses to
change
Lack of trust
Belief that change is unnecessary
Belief that change is not feasible
Fear of failure
Loss of status and/or power
Threats to values and ideals
Resentment and interference
• Spending time discussing how staff might
‘feel’ about what’s ahead
• Giving staff some autonomy as to how, or
even if, change is applied
• Providing opportunities for and encouraging
staff to have some input
• Managing any conflict
• Mobilising others
• Managing and anchoring yourself
• Planning communications during the change
• The more control staff feel they have, the greater the ‘buy in’
• A greater sense of ownership leads to a more successful change implementation
• The more informed staff are, the more they will be able to deal with the
discomfort
Consider:
Because:
Create a checklist for change
Action When Notes
Be clear why change needed – get people wanting change
Get a small group working on it and review the evidence of
what works
Test it out with people
Create a draft vision and proposal
Make sure everything is on place (especially skills and time to
do it)
Launch
Ensure quick wins
Get real-time feedback
Challenge those not adopting
Build into standard routines for planning and evaluation
Taken from ‘Leadership Matters’ – Andy Buck
Have the vision and the plan!
“It is not the strongest of species that
survive, nor the most intelligent, but the
one most responsive to change.”Charles Darwin